They are HERE!

The day was spent doing final preparations with a few hours in the afternoon to enjoy some time relaxing. Several of us enjoyed a refreshing swim in the Caribbean Ocean. We are pleased to say that our Week 1 Team arrived safe and sound to the Mission Center with all luggage accounted for.  We all enjoyed the traditional welcome meal – Haitian spaghetti. After a quick orientation, and unpacking all of the bags, we are enjoying a time of fellowship and probably an early bedtime. We will be off to church early tomorrow. We will try to update the blog as able. Thank you for your continued prayers. They are very much appreciated. 

February 2, 2018

Internet issues caused this blog to be delayed. Our driver is in Port au Prince as we speak picking up the team from Ebenezer. We will try to post again tonight, however because of Internet issues, our next post may not be until Monday night. 

Mark sent Jeff, Heather, and Jackie on a 45-minute drive to St. Marc to get about 2000 pounds of construction supplies…WITHOUT a translator. They report having had a great time!

Mark and Adam replaced the very aging battery bank that holds 24 batteries, being each the size of  a truck battery. This upgrade will keep our lights on and our refrigerators running when the generator is not on. Adam tried to figure out the gas that is given off when you try neutralize sulfuric acid with baking soda. He didn’t pass out or blow up – it was a good day.

Liane got all the food containers ready. Herta, our Haitian lady who sews at the Mission Center, and Liane did a little sewing project today to get ready for the sewing classes next week.

Josh worked on upgrading the network infrastructure here at the Mission Center.  We are all hoping the Internet service here will be improved.

Bob worked in the shop and made some drawings for 2 tables and a shelf. He talked to Shirlene, our Community Agent at Lanzac, about making a shelf to hold cups for the students at her school so they don’t have to share germs.

Jackie, Ellie, and Sabine sorted the medical records and updated them. This will facilitate the physicals that will be done next week.

Shari and Deb worked with the CA’s again. They practiced their scabies presentations as well as their individual capstone projects.  Anite, the school nurse, was a valuable resource today as she critiqued their projects. She will now oversee their presentations at the schools in the future.

We had a visit from Ricardo and Billy – two of our Lanzac students. Shari and Ellie got a game of Frisbee going with them.

Jeff was able to have a little down time as he had hoped.

Pam was busy doing a million things, as usual. She coordinated all of our activities to get ready for the whole month. Week One Team arrives tomorrow. We are praying for your safe flights and can’t wait for you to arrive! 

Safe Arrival

Hey everyone! This is Rene from the Mission Possible office in Findlay. I attempted to post an update yesterday, but it didn't seem to work. So, this is just to let everyone know that the group that traveled down on Wednesday made it safely & with no issues! Thanks for praying; please continue doing so as they have meetings and prepare for the arrival of the first big team.

Final full day for teacher team- Degeance school visit

At Dégeance we started with a school assembly.  We prayed and sang with musical instruments. 

We then enjoyed visiting individual classes. 

Take note of the woven leaf walls in this classroom.

There is not much protection from the rain,

 a demonstration of the need for a new building.

After we left the current school, we walked down to the new building site. 

Here is the foundation for the new church inside the new property wall. 

They had to dig down (by hand!) 60 feet to find water for the well!

Missing home, we had to show our love for our lovely (but cold) state of Ohio!

And of course, we were in training mode, so we just had to teach our interpreters
the O-H-I-O chant and pose.  They are now Buckeye fans!

Tonight we are enjoying one another's company, thinking about packing, and reviewing the happenings of the day.  We are so grateful to see the progress being made on the new building site for the Dégeance church and school, in addition to the banana, mango and papaya trees already planted along the inside of the fence.  Our last day of teaching training was also very rewarding, and we feel as if we have made many friendships with our Haitian teachers and principals.

Tomorrow is a travel day, flying to Miami at 2:00 pm, and arriving in Detroit close to midnight.  We ask your continued prayers for safe travel tomorrow, and look forward to being home again with our families.  God Bless all who have helped us along the way!

Thursday at Lanzac and MPCA (Teacher Team)

A Kindergarten group at Lanzac school singing with Miss Judy. 

Patti was thrilled to be in a 7th grade Spanish class and actually help teach Spanish at MPCA!!

She taught a song about the days of the week and had fun with these kids. 

Our amazing translators for the week! Carter, Evans, Reginald and LaFortune

We started our day eating breakfast, sharing a devotion, gazing at the beautiful sunrise over the ocean, and rejoicing that we only had one mango "boom" on the roof during the night.  We walked up the road to our school at Lanzac.  We were encouraged to see active teaching techniques that we have been emphasizing at the teachers' institute being done in the classrooms.  

MPCA was our next stop.  With over 600 students at this school, many of the classrooms were very crowded.  The lower grades were lively and active, which we love to see.  Patti taught a fun song to a crowded room of 7th grade Spanish students.  During the morning we were able to observe some improvements that could be made to the MPCA classrooms that would make them more inviting.  We came back to the Mission center to have lunch and regroup for our afternoon teaching sessions. 

Here are some of the lessons we are able to teach throughout the week. Judy taught techniques for teaching French vocabulary with poetry and music. Today she taught a lesson on Zaccheus including storytelling, tongue twisters, writing, songs and instruments. Sharon taught various ideas this week for teaching mathematical concepts. Today she demonstrated a method for very young students to practice counting and doing physical exercise at the same time. Patti explained TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) this week for teachers to increase longterm reading comprehension.  She has been using Creole books to show them how they can incorporate them with their students. Mary Jo has been focusing on the psychology of learning and how they can use these principles to improve student learning.  Today she focused on using higher level questioning to encourage students to think more deeply.  

Tomorrow is our last full day, and we will be putting finishing touches on our plans this evening.  We are thinking of all our loved ones at home and appreciate all the prayers and support we are receiving from you.  God is good!

Wednesday at Dupin (Teacher team)

Lunch is served at Dupin school.  

The students line up to get their plate and take it back to their classroom to eat. 

This was this boy's first day at the school in the youngest preschool class. 

He ate every bite and then licked the plate clean. 

Judy loved singing with the preschool classes and they loved it too. 

Mary Jo and Reginald (her translator) finishing her lesson today. 

     We began the day at Dupin, a school up in the hills north of our center.  We had the opportunity to visit classrooms again, and distribute materials to some of the classrooms.  It is always interesting to be at one of our schools at lunchtime.  The children basically have the same lunch daily which consists of beans and rice, usually with some gravy.  This day each serving had a pasta noodle on top.  The children are very grateful for this food, and they begin their meal with prayer.

     Following our lunch and some time to brush up our lesson plans, we again went to the Teacher's Institute.  Our attendance was a little low today because there was rain in the forecast.  Rain creates transportation problems for the Haitians in this area, as many live in the hills to the east of us.  We had an enjoyable day of teaching, and find that we are strengthening connections with our teachers daily.

     The trip back to the mission center afforded an opportunity to get to know our interpreters better.  These young men are quite good at what they do, and they are very interested in learning about our lives and some of the English phrases we use.  We all joke around together and are having so much fun getting to know each other! 

Tuesday at Teacher Institute

At Chardène school, Mary Jo and the elementary principal are discussing the schools yearly goals while Herve translates for them. 

Judy is presenting one of the preschool teachers some new school supplies we brought with us. 

Two of the cuties at the Chardѐne school.

Today's ride to our two school visits along with our translators and the school nurse. 

 

Sharon teaching Math concepts at the teachers' institute.

Hello!  We started our morning at 6 a.m. and are still going strong at 8 p.m.  It was a good day!  Traveling by truck(see photo), we visited Chardène and Saint Marc schools, enjoying the children and observing the teaching.  After returning for lunch at noon, we regrouped for the afternoon teaching at the institute.  By 5:30, we were very hot and tired and ready to return to the compound to feel the sea breeze, hear the calming waves and taste the Haitian cuisine.  We are now preparing for tomorrow, ready for devotions and a good night's sleep (without the noise of mangoes dropping on the roof) :-)